It is the pleasant morning of Sep 5, 2018. A large number of people are waiting for train no. 64417 EMU from Ghaziabad to Delhi at Sahibabad railway station, which is scheduled to arrive at 7.20 am. For years, locals have been commuting via EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) trains making their journey cheap and comfortable enough, hopefully.
7.30 am -- shows the digital clock at the platform. The train hasn't arrived though. People start criticising Indian Railways for its lackadaisical attitude and suddenly an announcement tries to catch their attention. "
Yaatrigan kripya dhyan dein. Ghaziabad se chalkar Delhi jaane wali gaadi sankhya 64417 platform number teen par aa rahi hai. (Attention please! Train number 64417 from Ghaziabad to Delhi is arriving shortly at platform number three.)"
A commotion all around. Leaving the benches, finishing their cup of tea and picking up bags, among other activities, people prepare themselves to board the train as soon as it arrives.
Five minutes later, the train is right in front of the commuters' eyes. Many get down, while many struggle to get into it. Females start running towards ladies coach.
As this process of boarding and deboarding the train is on, it starts. And, the moment it holds a little pace, some school boys start barging into the ladies coach, showing their
herogiri stunts. They are habitual of standing near the train door and stare at women. Some eyes are lusty, some are full of fear, while some hold admiration.
Though the stunts are meant to impress women, these sometimes cost them high because, while trying to enter the running train, they either lose their arms or legs by falling on railway track or die instantly. However, even after being aware of such mishappenings, their motto seems to be "The stunts must go on!"
Some women shout at these boys and reprimand them as they are not supposed to travel in the coach reserved for ladies. Outside the coach, the word
"mahilaayein" is always written in bold red. Nevertheless, since school students are given freedom to travel in this coach, they generally tend to take an advantage of it.
Sometimes, they pass lewd comments on other school or college-going girls, talk all the bullshit they can about a woman's clothes and try to grope a girl or touch her in an inappropriate way, while roaming here and there inside the coach. Some bear it, whereas some oppose. (I have been witnessing this since 2006.)
 |
| A picture showing some school boys who barged into the ladies coach of EMU train on Sep 5, 2018. |
Leaving Sahibabad, the train now reaches Chandra Nagar Halt. A halt of hardly one minute here, again a hustle-bustle and it heads towards Anand Vihar railway station, where there is something bizarre to see.
As the train stops at this station, there is a school boy wearing white shirt and grey pant (no tie, belt or identity card to recognise the name of the school), a not-so-heavy bag on his shoulders, standing at one of the doors of the ladies coach. He is looking outside when an another boy comes from nowhere and hits him with a leather belt on his face.
"
Teri maa ki ch***", comes the instant response. In a counter attack, he grabs him by the neck and slaps hard on his face. Both start a brutal fight, while other school boys enjoy the drama -- hooting, whistling and clapping.
A lady who must be in her late 30s is curious to know about the controversy. She peeks through the window first and then asks her co-passengers,
"Arre! Kya ho gaya? Kyun maar rahe hain ye log ek-dusre ko? Hain? (Hey! What's wrong? Why are these two hitting each other?)
"
None of them responds. Some are lost in the world of Youtube or their songs list, while some do not know or are rather not interested to now why this incident has actually taken place.
After almost thirty seconds, the train starts running again. Among the boys who were enjoying the fight at the platform, someone shouts,
"Abey bh***i ke, train pakdo train, yu to ladte hi raivenge. (Hey bh**** ke, catch the train, they will keep on fighting.)
"
They all push each other into the ladies coach again. The one who got hit by the belt bleeds under his nose. He starts abusing the one who had hit him so hard. A few moments later, he is nowhere to be seen.
Almost two-three months ago, there used to be Railway Police Force (RPF) personnel at these railway stations, so that people must be scared of making such hooliganism. At present though, there is not a single personnel present at any of the stations the train is passing through.
"
Abe Lajpat Nagar ke launde the ye. Parson inka jhagda ho gaya tha. Wo sale ko ye dikh gaya to usne badla le liya, (These boys belong to Lajpat Nagar. They had a fight day before yesterday. He just came to take his revenge)," a voice enters those commuters' ears, who are really keen to know the story behind this chaos. A fair-complexioned boy who might be 17 or 18 and is wearing a colourful T-shirt and light-brown trousers is boasting in these lines.
The boy who is still bleeding is back and the gang begins a discussion. One of them says,
"Padhai-likhai baad mein, pehle maarenge saale ko (Studies later, first we will beat him." The other shouts,
"Abe sale H****t (a boy's name)
ko phone laga. (Hey! Call (H****t)
".
Somebody dials H****t's phone number and the result is "
Abe ye to iski maa ne utha liya. (Hey! his mother has picked up the phone.)" The dialogue comes, of course, after hanging up.
While all this is going on, the train stops over the Yamuna bridge. It is 7.54 am now.
Again, another voice from the group, "
Bhai school ka time khatam. Chhoro ab. (Brother, school timing is over. Leave it).
"
And perhaps, they all decided to bunk the school. God knows whether they are really students or some goons.
At an age when their focus must be on studies, all they seem to be bothered about is doing stunts, harassing females and bunking schools. Unfortunate!
Meanwhile, crossing the Yamuna, the train reaches Tilak Bridge railway station. New Delhi is still far.
